The world of silence, the aquatic and underwater one, is the starting point of the collaboration that brought together the photographer Kate Fichard, studio FandD (Julia Dessirier and Flora Fxy-and Patrick Goossens (Creative director of Goossens) during the latest edition of the Hyères Festival, a few days ago.

Kate is deaf and had already collaborated with Goossens last year, as for Julia and Flora, they were the winners of the "Grand Prix du Jury Accessoires de mode Swarovski 2018".

Their collaboration presents a collection that plays with the rules of perception and sense.

The technology and the utility of hearing aids merges with Chanel Métiers d'Art and Goossens's aesthetics and craftmanship.

You won Swarovski accessories grand prize last year, by transforming an hearing aid in a fashion accessory. The technical form of your object is not changeable. How did you work around it with Patrick and Maison Goossens?

STUDIO FandD: The collection was about hearing aids imagined with Kate. The entire collection to start with was in metal. This year we wanted to open up the project and present a collection with a wider range of accessories that wasn’t only dedicated to the hard hearings.

Kate often used the metaphor of water, when she talked about her audition without her hearing device; she compared it to ours when under water.

We used that metaphor as a starting point of the collection, which we found very beautiful and interesting as it is so personal to Kate. It lead us to work on silence and as specially the aquatic silence.

What did the craftsmanship of Patrick taught you, brought you?

STUDIO FandD: we work a lot in 3D, which demands a very rigid and algorithmic vision. Working with Patrick was very interesting, as he interpreted every shapes his own way. Even our 3D renderings that were really precise, when Patrick presented us the prototypes there was always a sense of surprise, they were always better than in 3D.

PATRICK: The Material and volume are very important.

STUDIO FandD: All the work around the materials and precise finishings are incredible. When we saw the items after Goossens’s work, it was like seeing them for the first time.

Does it make you want to take this direction ?

STUDIO FandD: What we like about it is the meeting of both worlds. The idea is not to use only 3D but really to make coexist two different types of conceptions. Working with craftsmen that really master their technique is very interesting. This exchange, and the new shapes that we can create because of these two methods is something we really want to go forward to and continu developing.

What did the Hyères festival change for you?

STUDIO FandD: We had a lot of media coverage and really good articles. We met a lot of people, and had a lot of collaboration opportunities. The one with Kate is on the long term. She’s building up the brand and taking care of all the financial aspects, while we work with her on the pieces we created last year.

How many items are there in your collaboration with Patrick Goossens?

STUDIO FandD: 5.

Are you still true to your original idea when you met with Patrick the first time?

STUDIO FandD: The idea was there: imagining jewellery which arouses the hearing, the touch… That you can feel. The concept was there but the shape evolved.

The Métiers d’Arts opportunity made us want to make coexist several Houses on the same product. So there are some items with a plissé Lognon & and a Goossens jewellery, creating a real interaction between both universe.

During the collaboration, how did you choose which items were going to be produce or not?

PATRICK: there was a lot of things that came out purely of our own expertise. We had to found the adequate people to work with. Some items were not meant to be in metal but finally did.

STUDIO FandD: When we met Patrick, he explained us that the heart of the job was metal. Therefore we adjusted the drawings to have a lighter product that could be made in metal.

PATRICK: Once i had the printings, I entirely finished the products with my own hands.

STUDIO FandD: Kate today is associate with Margaux Grandson, with who she is starting the brand. And like Julia said, we are helping her with the design.

What do you do in parallel ?

STUDIO FandD: For the other items we worked with Lognon, and also Maison Michel for 3 particular pieces. It was interesting to work with them about silence, because felt is an acoustic material.

3 words to describe Goossens?

STUDIO FandD: Vision, requirement, sensibility

Did you consider the commercialisation of the Hyères items?

STUDIO FandD: We thought about it & we would like to launch a capsule collection of certain pieces in September. They will be in pre-order during the festival.

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